Equities markets flat in early trade (Lead)

Mumbai, May 20 (IANS) The Indian equities markets, which opened in the red Tuesday, were flat in early trade. Capital goods, banking, power and gas sectors were under selling pressure while metal stocks were in demand. The 30-share benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a loss of 132.15 points at 17,366.05. Ten minutes into trading, it was at 17,312.32 with a loss of 122.62 points.

At the same time the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 5,140.55 with a loss of 17.25 points or 0.33 percent.

However, the market breadth was positive. On BSE, 555 shares advanced, 521 declined and 33 remained unchanged.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Tata motors and Ranbaxy Ltd were among the initial gainers while Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastructure and Jaiprakash Associate were among the losers.